Pages

Monday, July 12, 2010

When Soo Jin told me about Grumps, a fairly new non-Halal Italian/ German restaurant in the nearby (to us PJ ppl, anyway) Plaza Kelana Jaya, I thought: "Grumps? - What a cute name..."....:)

... followed quickly by: "Oh no! I hope it's not because the owner/ chef/ staff there are proud of being grumpy!"... (*lol* Anyway, I shouldn't even have worried, because that was not the case at all...)

We chose to sit in the front area of the restaurant (not much choice anyway, there was a function inside that evening). I immediately liked the comfortable, unpretentious ambience there - lots of warm, earthy colours that made it feel cosy:

Tables at the front of Grumps....

(BTW, there is also a back entrance through the indoor car park area, just so you know....)

The back door....

It is actually located right next to the increasingly popular Secret of Louisiana and similarly, has a nice view of the man made lake:

Looking at the lakeside....

The Cheesey Garlic Bread (RM 7.90++) was highly recommended (by SooJ) so we started with that:

Crispy basket of bread....

Overall - yum.Carby, crunchy, cheesey and garlicky. :D

To be completely fair, the garlic bread was a little bit dry on its own.... but it went so well with the Cream of Mushroom Soup (RM 8.90++):

Creamy Mushroom Soup....

While there wasn't really anything special about the soup*, having it as a dip for the bread was great.....(*It's not that the soup is bad, just that it didn't exactly rock my world....)

For mains, SooJ had the Spaghetti Carbonara (RM 16.90++):

Calorieeeessssss ....

I stole the requisite bites* from his pasta and mulled over the taste....(*Muahaha. It's lovely being able to use the excuse that I am a food blogger! :P)

While it wasn't bad (creamy, tasty, al dente pasta), it also wasn't exceptional (one dimensional flavour, not enough meat). Still, for RM 16.90 - no complaints! Now I know where I can come for a very decently priced and pretty tasty pasta carbonara near my house.

As for me, I felt like something meaty so I ordered the Cheesy Crumbed Pork Loin (RM 22.90++):

Meaty ....

Wah. It doesn't look big, but the dense fillets of deep fried pork were really filling.

Texture-wise it was pretty tender, and tasted nice with the mildly flavoured mushroom sauce... My only (small) gripe is that the sauce was a bit too generously doused all over it, causing the batter to get soggy.

I was too full after that so I didn't try any of the desserts but I think I'll be heading back soon to try that and some of the other stuff on the menu... (Have heard that the crispy pork knuckles and pizzas are nice)

So, it's: Unpretentious, cosy ambience at the side of a (man made) lake, fairly wide range of non-Halal Italian and German food at reasonable prices, quite easy to find parking BUT nothing really bad to comment actually :)....

I get your opinion on one-dimensional carbonara.Reallt hard to get it down to a perfect T.Creamy, yet not cloying. Smoky, charred bacon that is not greasy nor repulsive. I like carbonara so much, and currently addicted to two places in Ipoh serving them.